Tag: ministry

In former times I used to think that Governments and legal institutions around the world are alike. That there are always a Ministry of Finance, Culture and Sport, Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Science and Innovation, Ecology and Environment… what else is there? May be Tourism, Employment and Social services.

But the older I grow and, hopefully, the more I know the more I notice a few differences.

For example, I didn’t know that in Australia there is a Minister for Women (strangely, but this time it is a woman who curates it. If I would be a man I would talk about discrimination…), a Minister for Indigenous Affairs (white person, of course) and no more Ministry for Climate Change (that’s been cancelled, may be due to a fact that we found out that climate stop changing. Bad news… or, may be a good news?).

I wrote once that in the UAE there is a Ministry for Happiness, which probably gives orders on how citizens have to feel and live. Looks like Ministry of Happiness needed in a country where women have no rights at all. That’s probably why they need it – to control their happiness.

I even got to know that in Bhutan they created a Gross National Happiness Index similar to a GD, as indicator of the country’s economic development. But this one is based on Buddhist principles, so they decided to create a Secretary of Gross National Happiness too. Well, I wonder if my happiness would be measured in percentage or days equivalent, or will it be just a dry number? The government probably sends you a happiness slip with this text: “This year you were happy for only 180 days, which is lower than the average. Please ensue you make yourself happy due to reflecting our policy” or so. Let’s assume that I’m an absolutely happy person (which is quite close to the truth) and my neighbour is the complete opposite. On average our neighbourhood is 50% happy. I guess, that’s a positive number, which makes us all so positively equal…. At least they don’t have a Ministry of Truth, like in the famous book “1984”.

India, for example, created a Ministry of Yoga. Their Minister is probably sitting in the lotus position for 14 hours a day to ensure that the whole Ministry enlightens. Or is he stressed from trying to relax people?

I recon, we also need something like this. I said it long time ago that we need a Minister for AFL (and let it be a pretty woman….please? She probably will find a common ground with every player.)

This time in Singapore I saw a Ministry of Manpower. I don’t know what it means, but surely it must be something that human beings do the best. What could it be “A power of a man”? Where is it? Is it in words, art or construction? Or is it a power of negotiations? Yes, that’s probably it. We are human and we are known for the ability to THINK and WRITE. That’s what puts us aside from animals. So, my guess is that the Ministry of Manpower is a Ministry for Art and Science or in the worst case scenario is the union for trade or labour (how boring!). I couldn’t stop thinking and tried to search the Internet. It is a Ministry “…which is responsible for the formulation and implementation of labour policies related to the workforce in Singapore. The ministry oversees matters related to immigration, issue of Employment Pass to foreign talents, student pass, passport, visa, grant of residency/citizenship etc. The Ministry was known as Ministry of Labour until 1998.”

O.K. now I know that the greatest of all powers that us human being have is the power of Labour. Socrates was wrong.